Blade Runner 4K UHD (1982)

[StingingVelvet]

Final Cut for me. I grew up with DC obviously but nothing in the FC bothers me and I prefer the wire erasure because I'm a heathen.

[motorheadache95]

Originally I just watched The Final Cut or would go to the international theatrical cut for the different experience. But since the UHD has that revised Atmos mix, it makes me more inclined to add the 1992 D.C version occasionally into the mix.

[Telemachus]

I like the Blade Runner cut with extra blades

[Kyle15]

I also like the alternate ending cut when Deckard picks up the origami unicorn and it explodes then he and Rachael blast out in a ship fire brimstone rain cutting to a sepia toned still of them both kissing in the car in a photo in The Overlook Hotel edited from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining footage creating a hyperlink narrative between both films.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

SO about that, such an edit exists. It's pretty swell.

I'd ask where you acquired it, but I don't want the mods to retire me.

[Verisimilitude1984]

I'd usually go theatrical every single time, however given the level of studio interference with Blade Runner I can see why other versions are generally preferred.

Coming from a point of ignorance here but why wasn't it resolved with the Director's Cut? Why was there need to return to it for a Final Cut? It just sort of muddies the water a bit and for someone new coming to the film it makes it fascinating but overly complicated.

I just learnt earlier that there's about 6 cuts of the film Manhunter.

So, when it comes to 'greatest films of all time' - when Blade Runner is mentioned is it referring to the Final Cut by default now?

[philthehip]

Originally Posted by Verisimilitude1984

I'd usually go theatrical every single time, however given the level of studio interference with Blade Runner I can see why other versions are generally preferred.

Coming from a point of ignorance here but why wasn't it resolved with the Director's Cut? Why was there need to return to it for a Final Cut? It just sort of muddies the water a bit and for someone new coming to the film it makes it fascinating but overly complicated.

I just learnt earlier that there's about 6 cuts of the film Manhunter.

So, when it comes to 'greatest films of all time' - when Blade Runner is mentioned is it referring to the Final Cut by default now?

The Final Cut is used as a 'one size fits all' when it comes to the greatest movie lists. But obviously when people vote in those things, they are not always voting for the same movie. BR is definitely a complicated beast.

As to why there is an FC, Scott did not oversea the DC, whereas he had artistic control over the FC.

My own favourite is the version where Deckard remembered to carry some extra batteries with him so Roy was able to be charged.

Roy: I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... I watched C-beams glitter in the dar.....

Deckard: Woy we got spare batteries, shut the **** up.

Roy: Little man!

[OutOfBoose]

I love all cuts. The perfect cut doesn't exist.

[DR Herbert West]

Final Cut, but I enjoy the Director's Cut almost as much.

[david_blu]

Theatrical cut for me everytime. I love the voice over, the driving in the sun at the end is a bit silly but it shows them escaping the rain drenched L. A. To give Rachel a chance to live.

I really struggle with the Deckard is a replicant idea because if that were the case you would design him like Arnie rather than Indiana so he can beat the bad guys more efficiently.

[Jackie Scanlon]

My ideal would be Final Cut with the colour grading of the DC. Otherwise FC is about as good as it gets.

[oddbox83]

I know my first time seeing the movie was the DC many years ago, I liked it but I didn't get it. Back then, I needed my fiction made clear as wasn't yet mature enough to understand all that was only suggested.

Years later, after having seen the TC (or more accurately the international version), it allowed me to get the movie because it hands it to the audience on a platter (the cheesy narration does help) and now find both the DC and FC versions masterpieces.

So, this is subjective, but maybe the studio interreference sort of had a point when it came to opening up the movie to a wider audience?

The FC maybe makes this moot, as it performs many little tidies, not only visually. I mean, to me it feels like it's got the clout of the TC with the artistry of the DC. It's like the perfect recut, and not just one made purely for the sake of it.

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by david_blu

Theatrical cut for me everytime. I love the voice over, the driving in the sun at the end is a bit silly but it shows them escaping the rain drenched L. A. To give Rachel a chance to live.

I really struggle with the Deckard is a replicant idea because if that were the case you would design him like Arnie rather than Indiana so he can beat the bad guys more efficiently.

I like the voice over too but prefer all other aspects of the Final Cut. This movie had to have the world record for most cuts…right?

[crissrudd4554]

Yeah I’m in the theatrical minority on this one but to be fair theatrical is what I tend to go for with any film when available. I don’t mind the voiceover partly cause it gives the film a noir-ish feel. I could give or take the happy ending though.

[fredman]

Originally Posted by david_blu

I really struggle with the Deckard is a replicant idea because if that were the case you would design him like Arnie rather than Indiana so he can beat the bad guys more efficiently.

IMO the story does work better with Deckard as a flawed human that identifies with replicants than as a replicant himself (which is why he's the bladerunner of note) - particularly the last fight scene with Roy, but if that's what Scott says it is...

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by david_blu

I really struggle with the Deckard is a replicant idea because if that were the case you would design him like Arnie rather than Indiana so he can beat the bad guys more efficiently.

I hate the replicant thing, ruins the message of the movie for a cheap twist IMO. I think that's still Final Cut compatible though, there's lots of head canon ways to explain away the unicorn.

I haven't ever really watched the voice over cut tbh. I got into Blade Runner on DVD and never saw it back then, and when I tried the theatrical cut on BD I was like "ah! different! no!" and shut it off. I should try again.

[crissrudd4554]

Both takes have merits but I think Deckard being a replicant undermines the stories deeper morals. The meat of the story is realizing the value of human life. Man made creations who exist only as slave labor learn the importance of humanity. By making your main guy one of them you lose that sense of a true being coming to the understanding of how even something that’s not human in an organic sense can still learn to feel, think, love, adapt, make decisions, everything that is defiantly human. Without a real human observer that question of what is humanity becomes somewhat repugnant. Just my take.

[DR Herbert West]

He's a human either way.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by crissrudd4554

...humanity becomes somewhat repugnant.

Isn't that sort of the point, replicant or not?

I mean look at the rogue replicants, who kill once they develop "humanity". Greed. Greed for profit, greed for power, and greed for more life. There's no moral high ground in this movie. It's dark. Perhaps the glimmer of hope is Deckard and Rachael leaving to try and make the most of what little time they have. True humanity starting to come through, at the end.

This is just one reading of it anyway (and one that don't work so well with the happy ending).

[StingingVelvet]

Yes, humanity is broken in that world. That's why the story resonates best (IMO) when it's a broken human rediscovering his empathy and compassion thanks to "robots." If they're all "robots" then no human learned a lesson. I also think the second movie works best if it's a human and a "robot" joining together to create the real future, which is both in one.

The twist leads to a message more like "they're just as human as us and the differences don't matter," as Herbie hints at, which is also 100% valid. I just prefer the former view on it. It fits my personal taste better I guess.